


I’ll Show My Scars If You Show Yours

by LilliTheFangirl



Series: Drabbles for the Soul [1]
Category: Soul Eater
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:47:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25596013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilliTheFangirl/pseuds/LilliTheFangirl
Summary: If you pulled an idiot of a scythe out of being his previous meister's guinea pig, might as well try to learn more about him.A drabble I wrote earlier this year for Spirit and my interpretation of Mama Albarn, Kumiko!
Relationships: Spirit Albarn | Death Scythe/Kami
Series: Drabbles for the Soul [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1855174
Kudos: 3





	I’ll Show My Scars If You Show Yours

“Could I sleep in your room tonight?”

The tall-ish redhead gulped as the petite girl in a caramel-colored ponytail grew wide-eyed before glaring straight into his soul. Yeah. He should’ve known she wouldn’t take that well.

“You really think you’re going to do that sort of thing with me even though we just got assigned as—“

“No, no, I don’t mean that kinda thing!!” Spirit clarified, his face heating up slightly. Sure he was a massive flirt but… he never went to that extent! “I mean actually sleeping! With the nighttime experiments that happened and all… I just don’t know if I’m comfortable sleeping alone.”

Kumiko’s face softened, her eyebrows wrinkling almost with guilt. “Oh. Right. Then sure, you can stay in my room. _Only_ for tonight, though.” She whipped back around with a cold gaze before opening a closet door and pulling out a pale beige futon and plopping it on the floor. “Since you’re probably more used to Western styled beds, you can sleep in this one, and I can sleep here.” The young meister pointed to the bed that was based on a bed frame. 

“I can sleep on the floor if you really want me to,” the weapon shrugged. “It’s like a sleeping bag, right?”

“Well, yes… but you probably want the most comfort to sleep well. Futons are nice, but you have to get used to ignoring the floor’s sounds and everything.” 

Spirit stayed silent as he watched her roll out her own mattress and get it all situated. “I think this is the nicest thing you’ve ever done for me,” he genuinely smiled, especially when he saw her face redden around the cheeks.

“You’re not usually someone who deserves my hospitality,” She huffed, standing up and brushing off her skirt. “But since you’re my weapon now, it’s the least I can do.” Kumiko muttured, barely loud enough for the scythe to hear; she took her hands behind her head to undo her ponytail. 

Although her hair stayed right below her shoulders, it felt like a completely new appearance. Instead of the notorious no-nonsense girl he saw so often… she seemed more open now. More—not vulnerable, but willing to talk instead of glare at everyone all the time. Not to mention she just looked pretty with her hair down. Spirit found himself staring off for who knows how long, until the petite girl looked back at him, sighed, and marched over with her arms crossed. 

“I’m changing into pajamas now. You don’t need to be in here to do that either, right?”

“Oh no, I can go back to my own room for those—”

“Then OUT!” What Kumiko lacked in size, she made up for in brute strength, shoving the scythe out the door so hard he stumbled on his own feet. He glanced back at the now shut door, sputtering a laugh to himself. That girl was an enigma he didn’t know if he should crack open or let be. 

Some time later, the girl gently pushed the door to her weapon’s bedroom. “Hey, Albarn? I ran out of the shampoo I normally use. Would it be ok if I used…yours…” The question slowed to a halt as Kumiko laid eyes on a peculiar sight: her tall, lanky redhead weapon was in the middle of pulling a shirt either off or on, nothing else on but sweatpants with a 42 on each side. His barely tanned torso and arms out for her to notice he… actually was gaining a little bit of muscle. 

Spirit had started to put on the shirt by one of the arm holes, thus he was wrestling to find the hole for his head as his new meister walked in on him. Once he pulled the shirt over his head, he finally noticed she was now in his room while he got changed. That wasn’t really the weird part—more so how she kept staring at him, eyeing him down almost like she was shocked he was getting abs. He looked back over his shoulder with a cheeky smirk. “And here you go saying I’m a pervert.”

Was it really necessary to say that? No. Was her pupils reduced to dots and her cheeks practically becoming blood red worth it? Absolutely. 

“I didn’t come in to peek on purpose! I’m simply surprised you aren’t a twig anymore.” 

The scythe boy couldn’t help but laugh loudly. “No need to be embarrassed! If you’re wanting to say I’m attractive, go on right ahead. It’ll flatter me,” he winked as Kumiko rolled her eyes. “But you wanted to use my shampoo, yeah? Go on ahead, if you think it’ll work with your hair type.”

Kumiko double checked the bottle in her arms for its fine print. “You don’t have any lice or dandruff, do you?”

“Wh—hell no! I’d practically die if that happened! Why would you even think that?”

“I wanted to make sure. You’re not the most… hygienic person I would think of.”

Spirit scoffed, hand over his chest as though her words stabbed him and she twisted the blade. “I will have you know my appearance and beauty routine are some of of my top priorities!”

His meister blinked, struggling to suppress her smile. “That moppy hairstyle is on purpose??!”

“Of course it is! Chicks dig it!”

“Psshshsh!!!” Kumiko covered her hand with her palm, though the apples of her cheeks gave away her smile. “As a fellow ‘chick’ as you put it, I can’t say I ‘dig it.’” Her laughter softened as she noticed the various small cuts and scars decorating Spirit’s forearms. 

“Did you used to own a cat?”

The redhead squinted at her, nonplussed. “No?? Where did that come from?”

She motioned to his arms. “Then did you used to pet sit?”

Spirit looked down and froze for a moment. He swallowed an audible gulp, and nervously shook his head. “Ah—these? No… I think these are from… y’know.” 

“Stein’s experiments?” 

“Yep.”

Kumiko’s shoulders hunched up sheepishly, her legs practically frozen in place. Spirit plopped on the foot of his bed, sheepishly crossing his arms to cover the scars. 

“You’re the one who found out about it, right?” He quietly asked her. “How did you figure it out?” 

“Well… I don’t know honestly. I could just tell from your soul that there was some underlying tension building within it. That something wasn’t quite right, even with your usual, oblivious smile. That, and the fact you spoke Irish whenever you napped in class.”

“It’s gaelic—conversational gaelic specifically. I dunno WHY Stein played tapes while working on me, but he did. Maybe that’s also what he wanted to check.” The scythe let go of one of his arms, patting a spot next to him for his new meister. 

Kumiko found her legs moving to sit on the bed before her mind could go against it. “You talk about it so openly.” She said, surprised he didn’t seem too affected by the trauma except for his more reserved body language.

Spirit shifted a little. “Well, you’re known to get information from people whether they want to give it to you or not. I figured it’s easier to let things out to begin with, to maybe build up a better sense of trust.” 

A better sense of trust. She never really trusted most people—not fully, anyway. Sure she tried to have friends like Marie and Nygus, but she never told them everything. Marie would talk about her own past and fears like it was nothing, and Nygus was willing to listen but only brought herself up if it sounded like good advice. Azusa, her own weapon before everything with Spirit and Stein, knew that she and Kumiko were partners but thought of it mostly as a business relationship. Comradeship at the most, maybe. Yet here Spirit was, literally willing to show his wounds. Show his vulnerability even after his own trust in his previous meister was certainly crumbling with the hour.

Kumiko turned to look at the scars on his arm again. “Don’t you hate him for it?”

“Hate who, Stein?”

“Of course! He literally cut into your body without asking you or anything—that’s one of the creepiest things I’ve ever heard of! I knew he was sadistic but I didn’t think that bastard would be such a sociopath!”

“I don’t hate him, really.” Spirit admitted, watching the girl’s jaw drop open. He laughed a little. “Of course I’m angry at him for never asking me or even telling me, and I don’t know if I could even stand 5 feet away from him without someone else with me anymore… but I don’t hate him at all. I guess because I know that at the end of the day, he’s a lonely guy who can struggle with stopping his mind from going further down the rabbit hole.” 

Kumiko furrowed her brow. “But—his experiments. What did he even do with those?” 

Surprisingly, Spirit did actually know. “He wanted to see how kishin souls actually affect weapons. Like the changes it makes for a weapon’s body, their abilities, and resonance with their meister. I think my hair changing color is what triggered it.”

“Your hair changed color?”

“I used to be blond. Almost like a platinum blond or something, but by the 5th soul we collected it started changing to this blood red color.” He ran his fingers through his horrible boy-band cut. “Crazy, right? I was freakin’ out—but I grew to actually really like it.” 

So it wasn’t always that crimson color. He used to be blond. In all honesty, Kumiko didn’t know which fact was more surprising to her. “I really can’t see you 金髪[1].” She mumbled to herself. 

“What?”

“Blond hair wouldn’t look good on you anyways. You’re insanely pale already, and your hair wouldn’t even give you contrast to stand out.” 

“Hey! I’ll have you know I absolutely rocked the blond hair when I had it! Pictures of me as the kid could be used in magazines, probably.” Spirit huffed, crossing his arms. The scars reminded him that they were supposed to be talking about the experiments. “I think what Stein would do is just try to get blood samples at different times, to better observe whatever happens in my body. The kid’s crazy, but he knows his stuff.”

Hazel eyes stared at the scars, the girl hesitant to touch them. “He still didn’t even ask you if you were ok with it.” 

“He was probably scared to ask, or didn’t even think about it. I mean what kind of reaction do you expect to get with ‘hey, can I get some of your blood and run some tests on you every night?’ Stein—Stein gives into a lot of his impulses easily. I tried to get him to tone it down, but I guess I couldn’t even with my wavelength control.” The scythe bit his lower lip, unsure what to say next. “I’m super pissed at what he did, but not really at him, y’know? He’s still my friend, and I don’t want you to give him a harder time than he’s taking right now, ok Kumiko?” 

She blinked, still not used to most people calling her by her first name. “Kami. You’re supposed to address me as Kami.” 

Spirit chuckled. “Well, we’re partners now. I’d like to think that makes us a little closer to go past family names.” He stuck out his hand. “You call me Spirit, I call you Kumiko… or what about Kumi? Kinda sounds like your last name but also your first.” 

The meister felt her face warm up, and she smiled. “Alright, you can do as you like… Spirit.” She grabbed his hand, fingers intertwining. His soul’s aura passed through her much clearer now, like a cool breeze. It was melancholic, but still hopeful—and sleepy more than anything. “But we should probably get to bed. As your meister I’m not tolerant of you skipping classes so much.”

“Aww!” He laughed, standing up and walking to the door. “Ok, I’ll take that as my punishment, I guess. You still ok with using my shampoo?”

Kumiko blinked at the bottle sitting in her lap. “あ—うん, だいじょぶよ.[2] I'll actually shower like I wanted before… you distracted me.” 

Spirit smirked, but turned away so she couldn’t catch him. “Alright. ‘Night, Kumi!” He left the door open as he walked into her room for the night. 

“N-night.” She repeated, staring at the shampoo bottle before standing up herself. Huh. Who would’ve thought being the roommate of this obnoxious yet friendly weapon would make her feel such a mix of emotions. 

**Author's Note:**

> 1 金髪 - Gold hair... basically a blond.[return to text]
> 
> 2 "Ah- Yeah. I'm alright." [return to text]


End file.
